Joni: The Creative Odyssey of Joni Mitchell

Review

Perhaps the best thing about this book is that the author admits to not having been a Joni Mitchell fan all along, which means we are spared pages and pages of fangirl squee. I suspect, however, that she’s overcompensating a bit: her observations of Mitchell’s acknowledged and presumed influences wander all over the map, as though leaving something out might be taken as disrespect or worse. Still, even the most arduous fans might concede that Joni is an absolute master at giving off mixed signals, and the sheer amount of detail provided here is helpful at unlocking, or at least understanding, Mitchell’s many mysteries.